Car has covered 61k miles and not had the throttle actuators done, so mindful of saving some cash for that! eek (Rebuild.org bookmarked)

Went in for an oil service and full inspection at Cooper BMW last week. All good apart from tires a bit on the low tread depth side! Oh and discs / pads maybe needed in 10k miles. Where does everyone go for OEM parts? I think i'll add braided lines whilst i'm at it.

Did you buy that from Preston area? As I I saw it for weeks on AT for sale, think it was for sale in NI also before that, as I ummed and armed about it

Yep, thats the one. I actually managed to get in touch with the NI owner. He is on Pistonheads and saw a post i made in the BMW section. He gave me some good insight in to the history of the car.

Was a long trek for me up to Preston from Wimbledon, but the car was great. Bodywork in excellent condition, with just 2 very minor details which i knew i could fix for next to nothing. Other than that it drove right, stopped right, handled right and all was generally in good order so i took it!

There were a fair few at similar price that i was interested in but this one had it all, EDC, DCT, right colour and low-ish miles. The dealer selling it did himself no favours with his poor photography skills. If you looked at the for sale photos next to my photos above you'd think it was a different car!

Otherwise, i haven't really done a lot to my car other than drive it and enjoy it!

Have a track day booked at Abingdon circuit on the 6th July. I plan on changing the front pads, but nothing else.. unless anyone has any recommendations?
I have done many a track day before however i am planning on taking this one a bit easier (to start with anyway) as i don't want to brake anything or risk it too much as the M3 is my daily driver.

Last few months have seen a few little changes made to the car. I bought and fitted a set of Ferodo DS2500 along with a full brake fluid change to Motul RBF 660 Racing Fluid. Also fitted a nearly new set of Michelin Pilot sport's to the front.

Last Friday i took the car up to Abingdon RAF base for a trackday. It was absolutely f'ing boiling hot all day, 30 degrees and no shade to be found any where!

The car was absolutely amazing all day, sooo rapid and most of the time i was short shifting to go a little easy on it. Handling was just sublime, the surface is very grippy and the car stuck to it like sh1t to a blanket! When it does slide, it is so predictable and easy to manage on the throttle. The organisers don't encourage that kind of behaviour however they don't mind a bit of it.

I was surprised the brakes held up given the amount of feedback on here, however, the pads were only 500 miles old and it had brand new race fluid.. also, the nature of the circuit is quite fast with only 2-3 hard braking areas per lap. When i did come back in from warm down laps it was pinging away like mad!

So happy with the car, it feels at home on the track being pushed and encourages you to go harder and harder with the feedback and confidence it gives. I am itching to get on to a race circuit and see how it feels there.

Little vid of some of the more sedate fun laps! Still have so much footage to edit.

Cheers Keith, I was reading all your threads yesterday! Monte Carlo is just stunning!

Definite decent step up from the Z4. I've owned car's with more power than the M3 in the past but none with engines as special feeling as this! I still can't get over the way it revs from 6-8.3k.. :O

That is the defining characteristic of a highly strung, naturally aspirated ///M engine, like the S50 and S54 in the M3s before it, and why the new turbo gen cars leave me cold. That crescendo puts the hairs on the back of my neck up everytime I take it out and wind it up. Epic engine.

That is the defining characteristic of a highly strung, naturally aspirated ///M engine, like the S50 and S54 in the M3s before it, and why the new turbo gen cars leave me cold. That crescendo puts the hairs on the back of my neck up everytime I take it out and wind it up. Epic engine.

And thanks for the compliment mate

Yep, i get that same feeling... and i think the DCT amplifies it even more by helping keeping it in that RPM sweet spot continuously! Can;t wait to get the GTS software uploaded to the box.

So, on to the brake update:

My brake rotors are looking in a pretty poor state after the track sesh. I knew they were going to need doing when i bought the car.. but i think i may have to bring this job forward.

Above: State of the front discs.

Above: State of the rear discs.

Not fantastic as you can see. I would say the rear rotors look worse than the fronts.. if i can get away with it, i'd rather do one axle at a time.. so rear's this month and front's next.